Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles coach Doug Pederson says officials blew crucial fumble call in fourth quarter

Published Nov. 15, 2016 1:59 p.m. ET

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Cameron DaSilva

After starting the season 3-0, Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles finally came back down to earth. They suffered their first loss of the season on Sunday, falling 24-23 to the Detroit Lions.

The Eagles had the game in their hands, but two turnovers on their final two drives cost them a victory. The first was committed by Ryan Mathews, who fumbled it away to give the Lions the ball in Eagles territory.

To head coach Doug Pederson, the fumble should have never been ruled in favor of the Lions. The ball was lost near the sideline, where a pile-up of players formed, attempting to recover it. Several players were out of bounds during the scrum, which would have ruled the ball out of bounds, as well.

That’s the way Pederson saw it, but the officials didn’t agree.

“It is. It’s a dead ball, out of bounds. That’s the rule,” Pederson said. “That’s one of the things I wanted to make sure this morning that I was correct and accurate in that ruling. It’s just one of those things. We can’t cough the ball up.”

Eagles lineman Jason Kelce appeared to have touched the ball while out of bounds. Pederson said he was told Kelce “didn’t touch it,” which is what led the officials to give the ball to Detroit — even after looking at the replay.

Kelce acknowledged that he was trying to get the ball out of bounds, even if that cost the Eagles a penalty.

"I was just trying to get to the ball," Kelce said. "Maybe bat it out of bounds. I mean, I know that's illegal, but in that situation, you would take the penalty and punt."

Because it was deemed that the Lions recovered the ball on the field, there clearly wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the ruling. It was an unfortunate outcome for the Eagles, but one they could have avoided by simply holding onto the football at a crucial point of the game.

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